Man attacked by leopard in Dahanu dies

A day after a leopard got trapped in the cages that were set by forest department near Talasari in Dahanu, one person who was injured in the human-leopard conflict near Amgaon succumbed to injuries

A day after a leopard got trapped in the cages that were set by forest department near Talasari in Dahanu, one person who was injured in the human-leopard conflict near Amgaon succumbed to injuries on Wednesday morning at a government hospital.

"The person who was undergoing treatment in a hospital at Silvassa succumbed to injuries on Wednesday. The incident is very unfortunate and the Forest department would see to it that the family of the deceased, Vasant Irim, receives the compensation of Rs 8 lakh at the earliest,” informed Divisional Forest Officer N Ladkat from Dahanu range, Thane Forest Department Territorial).

In the wee hours of Tuesday, the female leopard had got trapped in the cages that were set by the forest department. The local villagers were furious because of the human-leopard conflict and so the only option left before the FD was to safely trap the animal.

The leopard after being trapped was taken to the leopard rescue centre at Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) where it's complete medical examination would be done before taking a call about releasing it in wild.

Even though there were two incidents of human-animal conflict that were reported in the Dahanu area in last one month, sources from FD told mid-day that the reason behind the attack does not seems to be deliberate.

“It would be wrong to term the animal as problematic since both the incidents took place in the wee hours. So there are chances that both the incidents might have happened accidentally. The animal that was trapped has been in the area for a long time, and it never charged on people who were walking. The call to release it would be taken post its complete medical examination,” added an official who did not wished to be named.

The team from ‘Mumbaikars for SGNP’ had also visited the tribal hamlets in the area last week where there were frequent sightings of leopards and an awareness programme was also done. Leopards have been frequently sighted in Aamgaon, Dongari, Sambha, Ucchad and Thakarpada area in Talasari near Dahanu.